Vegan Cherry Dark Chocolate Chip Muffins

Can we just talk for a moment about how delicious cherries are right now? They are a more expensive fruit at our markets in Kansas but once I eyed them and snagged a sample to test for ripeness/flavor, I knew it was on. To the kitchen I went, with chocolate and cherries in hand.

Chocolate-cherry muffins, that are vegan! Oh boy. I know chocolate-covered cherries are a thing – my mom LOVES them – but I’ve always thought they were kinda gross. Something about the slimy texture, weird flavor. BUT, when the cherries are fresh and the chocolate is dark and chopped in thick chunks, you know I’m all about it.

These muffins are so simple to throw together, requiring a limited number of ingredients and just one mixing bowl. Plus, they’re considerably healthy as far as muffins go.

These muffins may be vegan but they don’t lack in flavor or texture. The’re cakey and light with a sweet, nutty flavor from the brown sugar and almond extract. The cherries are abundant and bursting with flavor, and the chocolate peeks through to give just the touch of decadence you crave.

Breakfast, dessert, snack time, we’ve got you covered with this one simple treat. Enjoy!

I totally agree with you about the chocolate covered cherries. I always thought cherries were disgusting until I tried a fresh one and ended up eating almost the entire bag! These muffins look fantastic! I love the dark chocolate, cherry, almond combination. Can’t wait to try it!

Oh how I miss cherries, Dana. That photo at the top makes me want to grab a handfull! I can’t believe these are vegan – the inside looks tender – I may have to give these a shot with some sort of cherry substitute….mango, rambutan, papaya perhaps? ;) Or maybe I’ll just double the chocolate.

I saw these while I was on vacation and when I came home and found that I had all of the ingredients I was so happy. They turned out sooo tasty. Although I noticed that there is no eggs (or rather, flax eggs since its a vegan recipe)., and they were a bit less structural than other muffins I’ve made.

Hannah! I tried these without a flax egg or chicken egg to see how they’d turn out. I agree they weren’t as “firm” as other muffins I made but that was OK with me. If you try them with an egg (flax or chicken) at some point, let me know how they turn out!

I’ve made these twice thus far. We love them! I’ve made more vegan muffin recipes then I care to admit and I must say I love the texture of these the best! Yes they were crumbly but we were OK with that! I didn’t have cherries or dark chocolate on hand so I used strawberries and ghiridelli semisweet chips first time and I used blueberries and chocolate chips the second. Both were awesome. I preferred the blueberry. Also I had to double recipe to get 12 full cups. If I can locate organic cherries I will eventually try it as intended!

I made these earlier and they went down so well!! Instead of mixing in the dark chocolate tho, I just put a square in the middle of each muffin and topped it with a bit of mixture before baking, as I thought I wouldn’t have enough chocolate. Came out great !